Doctor Spencer Reid
by Artemismoon91904
Summary: The Doctor's last regeneration didn't go so well. He turned out a child, American, and still not ginger. Crash landing, he had nothing to do but make a human life for himself. Why the name Spencer Reid? It was the first thing to come out of his mouth when he was asked. For years he kept his old and new lives separate, but when they collide, it's more than he can handle.
1. An Old Friend

**Hello friends, thank you for taking the time to look at this! I've been thinking about this idea for a while. I will try my absolute best to make sure things line up with both shows in terms of possibility and big canon events. I based the lecture off of Prof. Brian Cox's lecture on the universe (which is one of my favourites please watch it) so I hope the atmosphere is alright there. I didn't really take anything but the topic from that lecture but I recommend it anyway. _PLEASE TELL ME_ if you see I did anything wrong with the characters or if I missed something in a plot or if something doesn't make sense etc. because I really need the feedback. **

**~DW~CM~DW~CM~DW~CM~DW~CM~**

Reid sighed and closed the door behind him, disappointed in himself for getting so tired to easily. He could go days without sleeping, better than any human, but he was failing as a Time Lord.

Reid. The Doctor. Spencer Reid. Doctor Reid. He wasn't sure anymore. He looked around the apartment that was the same size inside and out and was disappointed in that, too. He was a disappointment.

How many years had it been? He couldn't remember. 'Eidetic memory'. He snorted and tossed his messenger bag to the side of the door. That was the only thing he had left that was bigger on the inside. He hardly used it for anything-it was more of a comfort than a utility. He was proving to himself that he hadn't given up on the hope that he could get back to his real life, not that this one wasn't real. Not that it wasn't good. Great, even. Fantastic.

He supposed he couldn't blame anyone for his regeneration into a child. Not much he could do with that but land in a place according to his accent and stay there. The only problem was the rough landing. He couldn't move around as easily when he was, what, six? The crash had been devastating. Years later he still wasn't allowed in, and he leaking vortex energy had made the only woman kind enough to take him in, for lack of a better word, crazy. He was thankful he could stop that problem before something devastating happened. His 'father' was gone so often that he hadn't been affected almost at all, except that what had happened to his 'mother' tore the family apart. The TARDIS felt bad about it after she was told. She's kept her doors deadlocked since then. And now the Doctor was stuck here as Reid, and that was okay. But he wanted to get back. Sooner or later the team would notice he wasn't ageing like them. Gallifreyans aged like humans until fifteen years of age, which he had since passed. Perception filters came in handy when things like that didn't line up. Filters for physical objects were easy enough, but for ideas, those took a while. He had finally done it at about seventeen, not too late. He could still hardly believe that he went from so old to so young in one regeneration. He hoped the trend wouldn't continue. He didn't want to be eighty and then two. It's like the new regeneration energy provided to him was faulty in some sense. He knew the rules well enough... he would just have to deal with what he was given.

This body wasn't the worst it could be. Attractive enough, in his opinion, but he amped up the awkward to make sure to avoid romantic relationships. It was a mistake to befriend coworkers. He didn't know if he could leave them. He didn't know if he could keep lying to them. There would come a time when they were all dead from age or the dangers of the job and he was still twenty and working.

He had to get the TARDIS fixed before he got too far in this made up life.

He hadn't been too paranoid before today. It seemed like everything could keep going as it was forever. He would keep getting PhD's, keep saving people, keep living, almost like it had been. Until today. Today.

It had been a rare moment where they were all together and not stressed about a killer or psychopath or kidnapper or even paperwork. It was a nice lunch. (He ate only when he was being observed, though he didn't really need to a lot of the time). It was a casual discussion about childhoods. Reid listened and didn't share. He had true experiences and lies all laid out in his head, but he kept those to himself if he could help it. The discussion shifted to age, and then to how old everyone was when they got into the BAU. All eyes turned to the 'boy genius' and he gave his answer, reigning as the youngest and smartest among them.

Morgan could be such a pain. He noticed things. He kept a close eye on people he cared about, and that included the 'baby' of the team. He commented that Reid still looked as young as he did on his first day. It was a joking remark at first, but slowly everyone realised how true it was. How scarily true. He was meant to be in his thirties now, but he could still pass as a teenager if need be. He didn't think they would notice. Of course they would notice. Profilers notice things, it's what they do.

As soon as the humour faded from the teams' eyes he was under scrutiny. Of course no one could guess. They would never guess. But the suspicion was a bad thing anyway. Worse than that was the slap in his face: he was already noticeably not ageing compared to them.

He always forgot how quickly humans seemed to change with age. One year difference could be detected. He was estimating he could go for about twenty or so years without anyone questioning or noticing. He was dead wrong. Not even half the way through the time he had allowed himself and already...

There was a knock on his door, then a pause, and a ding-dong like whoever it was had only just found the doorbell. Doctor Reid shook his head free of his intruding thoughts and went for the door, jumping over furniture with disregard for anything permanently placed.

One would think someone like him would be more careful with who they opened the door for, but he swung the door open with the momentum he had collected from bounding across the room.

Rossi stood in the hallway looking confusedly at something on the wall beside the door and pointing to it like he had just had a revelation.

"You have a doorbell." Rossi nodded along to Reid's set tempo and let his accusing hand drop. Reid used his free hands to motion acceptance of entry, and Rossi happily obliged, taking in the small room as he entered. Reid couldn't help feeling profiled.

Rossi looked at his bag on the floor and huffed. "You treat that bag like your child yet you leave it on the floor." He looked at Reid, not missing the blood rushing to his cheeks and his bobbing Adam's apple. "You wouldn't make a very good father."

Reid managed a humourless laugh, though he meant it to come out more light-hearted than it appeared.

"Sorry." Rossi said casually, "I didn't mean anything by it."

Reid nodded in understanding. "It's alright. I know. I just disagree is all."

Rossi swiped some dust off of the tops of some books that didn't fit on the shelves absently. "Do you want children?" He paid Reid little more than a glance, trying to make the question less intrusive than it was by eliminating a penetrating gaze.

Standing in the middle of the room and turning on the spot to watch his guest, Reid answered, "Yes. Eventually."

Rossi almost laughed. "Because you're too young now?"

Reid shook his head though Rossi wasn't looking. "No, I just want to do it with the right person." He thought of Susan now, how he had failed as a grandfather. And Jenny, though his time with her was only brief, how he couldn't let her see the stars with him. "I want to do it right." He corrected more generally.

Rossi stopped prodding around the apartment and drifted over to Reid in the middle of the room. "That's a good idea. I didn't have that patience. But you should watch out, my friend. The clock runs out for us all, and yours is ticking. How old are you now?"

Reid swallowed. He could feel Rossi leading in to this conversation from a mile away. "Thirty-one." He answered through uncontrolled nerves.

"Time is ticking on." He warned one last time, then took a breath and broke his stance, signifying the end of his cryptic comments. He picked up Reid's bag (to which Reid tensed and made himself ready to charge for it) and offered it to it's owner (to which Reid relaxed and accepted it).

"Shall we?" Rossi opened the door like it was his to open. Reid shouldered the bag and grabbed the strap for security, nodding and taking a needed breath before leading the way out.

The car ride was almost enough to make Reid regret making plans with Rossi to go to the lecture. It probably wouldn't be anything he didn't know, he just enjoyed listening to things being rephrased, presented, and enjoyed watching other people react and questioned. He loved the atmosphere at lectures. Rossi had asked to come along.

When they got there barely on time, little of that was left for conversation, so they made a bee-line for the lecture hall and sat where they would hopefully be able to see and hear fairly well. Only five minutes after sitting down, the hall had miraculously filled and the projector displayed an image of the earth from space. Just that made him giddy.

The speaker came out and the hall fell silent. Reid was on the edge of his seat, literally, and near squealing with delight.

"I want to talk about the universe..." Came the voice from the speakers. Reid started bouncing in his chair.

"Calm down or you'll explode." Rossi whispered his warning which might not be too far off. He was quickly ignored and told to "Watch, watch!" as if something immediate were to shock him, but only be observable for a second to be easily missed.

Rossi learned about one thing during the lecture: Reid could talk _really fast_. In between the speakers breaths the kid would elaborate and provide insights into whatever had just been explained before Rossi had a chance to think what was happening. There wasn't a time when someone wasn't explaining the physics and quantum mechanics of the universe to him for a straight hour and a half. Rossi didn't think of himself as easily mentally fatigued, but he was tired from just sitting next to someone so permanently enthusiastic as Reid for this long.

Just as Rossi was about to get a word in, as the audience was standing, Reid was tapped on the shoulder by a man who had been sitting behind them the whole time. He could probably hear Reid's incessant flow of knowledge, Rossi thought. He was ready to back Reid up in a fight if need be. Instead of a challenge, the man in the long, black trenchcoat smiled and was friendly.

"Hey, I overheard you during the lecture and you really remind me of this friend I-"

"Jack?" Reid seemed shocked to know someone, Rossi thought.

The trenchcoat man, Jack, seemed even more surprised, taking a second to respond.

"Doctor?"

Rossi was still skeptical of this person. Reid didn't really have 'friends'.

"He has a name." Rossi challenged.

"Oh, really?" Jack responded to the FBI agent, then turned to his old friend. "Doctor who?"


	2. The Doctor Is In

**A big thank you to everyone who read and followed this just from the first chapter. Very special thank you to Firesong23 and Connor Steier for the comments (those make my day). To clarify: I will be referring to him as Reid for the most part, and only as the Doctor when the only people he is interacting with are from Doctor who. When it's just narration he'll probably be Reid. Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter than the last. Next week is finals week do this will probably be the last update until the first of June (when my school finishes) but I will keep updating over the summer.**

"Oh, really?" Jack responded to the FBI agent, then turned to his old friend. "Doctor who?"

"Doctor Reid." Rossi answered, stepping up and moving his jacket aside just enough that his gun was showing, "And if you don't know that much about him, maybe you should go."

Jack was amused, "Doc, clarify for me, am I being threatened?"

"Yes." Reid was blunt, then turned to Rossi, "Can you wait for me outside?"

Rossi half rolled his eyes but complied. If Reid trusted this man to be alone with him, then Rossi could deal with that.

"Nice accent." Jack smirked and looked the new Doctor up and down, "Nice body as well."

"Don't start." The two shared in smiles inspired by the familiarity of the interaction.

"So, what brings you here? Sitting through an entire lecture without jumping up to sonic some alien that just happened to be sitting in front of you. And what happened to the whole 'John Smith' thing, anyway? Where did 'Doctor Reid' come from?"

"It's... it's a long story." The Doctor shifted his eyes away and pretended to be examining the ceiling.

"It normally is with y- Are you carrying a gun?" Jack stared at the obviously exposed weapon in disbelief. "It must really be a long story. How about we go back to the TARDIS and take all the time we need for you to explain what events led to _you_ carrying a _gun_."

"About that, the TARDIS crashed pretty badly my last regeneration. I haven't used her since."

Jack nodded, "Ah, hence a human friend who didn't seem to know anything about time travel."

"If you needed my TARDIS I'll assume you don't have a vortex manipulator?"

"Sadly no. It broke. You did tell me so. I was hoping to come across a regeneration of you somewhere. Didn't expect this country."

"Then why are you here?"

"I got a note from myself telling me to come. Didn't know what it was but came anyway. Why are you here?"

"Here being the country, the state, or the building?"

Jack shrugged, "All of them?"

"Country because this is where I crashed and the accent matches. State because it's where I work. Building because I miss space and I wanted to hear someone talk about it."

"You work? Like with an actual job?" A grin dominated Jack's face, "That's hilarious. What is it, 'official alien expert'?"

"Actually, I'm in the FBI." There was no humour to his voice. He didn't break the lock on the gaze he held with Jack as he retrieved his badge and explained that it was "Not psychic paper."

"So that's why the gun." The Doctor nodded to Jack's comment and put the attention-attracting badge away. "I gotta say, FBI, I didn't think you had it in you. How many people have you shot?"

The Doctor flinched with flashbacks, "Less than I've saved, and none when it wasn't the only option."

"I'm just glad your priorities are still straight. I couldn't imagine you being sane after years of minute-to-minute progression of time, a human job. Say, do you have a house and stuff that's not Time Lord?"

He nodded, "I do. I've been here for a while. Don't underestimate my ability to adapt."

"So where is the TARDIS?" Jack had been inconspicuously moving slowly around the back of the Doctor to see all of this new body. His question was a distracted one, and that did not go unnoticed.

Turning to provide a barrier between Jack and his rear, "Las Vegas, Nevada. She won't let me in after the energy from the vortex hurt an innocent human. Another long story, and I should be going."

"Where? FBI headquarters?" Jack taunted boyishly.

"No. Home."

Jack sighed, "Can I come with you? I've kinda been sleeping wherever I can find to sleep without getting arrested."

"Why didn't you contact me?"

"I tried! You aren't easy to get a hold of. As soon as the TARDIS lets you back in you'll see about seventy-three missed messages from me, which were sent when I still had a partially functioning vortex manipulator. That was my only mode of transport and communication." Jack started to follow as the Doctor walked out of the now empty hall.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but really, those things practically have a trouble/malfunction guarantee."

"What things?" Rossi was there waiting right outside the exit.

"Cellphones." Reid said at the same time Jack blurted out "Pencil sharpeners." Each gave the other a look of disapproval and mild confusion at why they had chosen the strange item they had.

Rossi shook his head, "Where did you two know each other from anyway?"

This time both time travelers waited for the other to speak.

"MIT." Reid eventually said after locking eyes for long enough with Jack that he knew he wouldn't be contradicted.

"You went to MIT?" Jack asked in astonishment (not that the Doctor was capable of graduating from MIT, but that he was capable of functioning like a human student) that could not be withheld.

Reid nearly hit himself in the face, but instead focused that energy into a glare at his malfunctioning 'friend', if the Captain could be called that. He more liked the sound of 'meddling immortal'.

Rossi held up his hands in surrender, "If you don't want to tell me then don't, but Reid, I hope you know this guy for real. Never trust someone in a trenchcoat."

Jack smirked helplessly, "Oh, the Doctor here knows all about trenchcoats, isn't that right, Doc?"

Reid blinked up at the sky, willing the images of the (awesome) coat away. What would Rossi think? "It was one- just one..." He sighed and gave up, turning to Rossi. "Jack will be staying with me for a while, and I trust him enough to allow him that, so I hope that you give him at least a fraction of that which I have for him."

Rossi sized Jack up, regarded his colleague's sincerity, then held a hand out to Jack. "I don't believe we've properly met. Agent David Rossi."

Jack shook the hand with mild inexplicable gratefulness, "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Captain of what?"

"That's not the right question." Jack frowned a little.

"Then do enlighten me, Captain," They were making their way outside to Rossi's car "What is the question?"

Jack shrugged, "Can't say. Silence will fall when the question is asked."

"Oh, is that where you are?" Reid exclaimed. Rossi would've been startled if he hadn't been so accustomed to outbursts of excitement from the boy genius.

"Just past that."

"Why didn't you show to Demon's Run?"

"Excuse me?" Rossi interjected, startled by whatever was being referenced here. Reid waved Rossi away dismissively.

"Cheap and nasty time travel, as you've told me. Wouldn't go there." Jack briefly shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand as the trio exited the building into a nearly empty parking lot that looked like it belonged in a different world than the one they had arrived in.

"What? Time travel? Is this Star Wars?" Rossi guessed. He received two NO's before they continued.

"It might've just been that the event was locked. Some machines don't go to fixed points _or_ tipping points in history."

"Ah, good point. Why you can never come to me, right? Fixed point?"

Rossi stopped in the middle of the street, "What in hell are you talking about."

"A book." They both said at the same time. Rossi took a breath to compose himself, then waved wordlessly as he went to his car. It was obvious that the Doctor and the Captain were not invited.

The Doctor smiled with lips pressed together, eyebrows raised, "Well."

"How far is the walk?" Jack asked with a flirtatious smirk that worried the Doctor about his intentions.

"I- hold on a minute. When I came here the car in this spot had water leaking from it. Do you see any water here?" He waited for a response and none came as Jack surveyed the area to the best of his ability.

"So you think suddenly something is happening after years of you going about a human life?" Jack's voice came skeptically after too long of searching to no avail.

Rossi slammed the door of his car-the only one in the lot-angrily and stalked over to the two. "It wouldn't start."

The trio alone in the centre took turns locking eyes with each other. Doctor Reid's head twisted. Who was this case for? A signal to the federal bureau of investigation, or to the otherworldly saviour of the Earth. A smile that had graced the lips of every regeneration finally crept onto these.

This, he decided, was a call to the Doctor.


	3. Psychic Paper

**Sorry. Finals week. Stressed out. I've been working on this throughout the week as I have time so if there are any continuity errors that would be why and please just this once let them slide. I'm writing on an average of three hours of sleep. I should've waited to write but it felt like I was betraying you guys so I made an effort. Thanks for the read. It's a little short but I think I got some necessary information in. I hope I don't disappoint.**

It had been a while since he'd been called on by the universe. He grinned with giddy anticipation, drawing a strange glance from Rossi and a knowing smirk from Jack.

"The Doctor is in?" Jack prompted.

"Oh, yes." Reid straightened the strap of his messenger bag and strode forward, beginning his search for clues. He was delighted at how easily he switched from looking at the scene forensically to however he was doing it now. No people, residue of recent events gone, but human presence here (the building was made by humans). The sun was where it should be in the sky for time of day, and the weather was the same, so it was unlikely they had time traveled. It was only the three of them who were left, so they had to have either been included in something or excluded from something that happened. It would make sense if Rossi had been inside the hall with them, but he'd watched everyone leave.

Wait a minute. Rossi watched them leave.

He stopped the pacing he hadn't realised he was doing and walked more purposefully up to Rossi, "You were watching when they left, right?"

"Who is 'they?'"

Reid made wild gestured, "They! Them! Everyone else who was in the building or outside. You could see them leave. Where did they go?"

"I don't know." Rossi shrugged innocently, "They just left out the door and in their cars. When you two came out there were still a few people here and there, but most had gone. When we all started walking out, everyone was gone. I didn't think anything of it. What are you getting at?"

"I'm not sure yet. I need to know more." He crouched by the ground where the puddle of water from the leaking car should've been and examined it. The ground wasn't even damp, and it didn't smell like abnormal asphalt.

"What the hell are you doing, kid?" Rossi sighed like a parent who caught a child drawing with shaving cream.

"Ha! 'Kid'. He's older than both of us combined." Jack blurted, ignoring the Time Lord's frantic gestures to get him to terminate his comment.

Rossi was utterly confused. "He's barely thirty."

"Jack..." Reid warned him.

Jack turned to him where he was still crouched, "Weird stuff is happening. He was gonna find out eventually. And besides, if this doesn't work out, there's always memory worms?"

"Memory w- What's going on?"

"The Doctor is a super old, super smart time traveling alien from outer space who has a thing for saving Earth and picking up humans."

Rossi shifted on his feet, a smile growing on his lips as he took in his new information. He nearly laughed, "This kid? That's probably the-" His smile faded and his eyes widened to take in further something that he was staring at behind Jack. Reid twisted and stood to see what had drawn all of the attention.

"Okay... I think I believe you." Rossi gave in, thinking that if this massive space ship wasn't enough evidence, he didn't know what was.

"That looks... That's... I don't think I've seen something like this before. You, Jack?"

"Outta luck, Doc. My best guess would be Atraxi."

"Minus the giant eyeball, yeah, otherwise the structure is very similar. Do you think stolen and remade to fit the species?"

Jack nodded, "That or this is from before the reign of the Atraxi in this part of the universe."

"Good point, yes. By the engine sound, that was built to travel from- at most- the Andromeda galaxy."

"So what do they want here?"

"But you look human." Rossi had been staring at Reid the whole time.

"No, _you_ look Time Lord. We came first."

Rossi looked down, squinting as if somehow he would find the answers on his shoes, and mouthed to himself 'what?' before turning away and taking a breath that would be used to power his acceptance of all of this.

Reid suddenly jumped, then went to dig in his messenger bag, mumbling something about this whole thing being "very much like the last time" which Rossi and Jack alike let go.

"They left me a note on the psychic paper. 'Time to come and play. Humans aren't really losses. Your friends are waiting.' How cryptic." He tossed the psychic paper back into his bag.

"That was a haiku." Noted Rossi, making himself useful, "Five, seven, five syllabic scheme."

"Which means... Anyone?" Blank stares. "No? Well, it means they wrote that in English without a translator. Either that or it's some coincidence."

"Aliens from up to as far as the Andromeda galaxy who speak English? Sounds like you, Doc." Jack joked.

"You're right..."

"Are you from the 'Andromeda galaxy?'" Rossi asked seriously, barely believing he had the opportunity to ask that question.

"Not quite. Technically same galaxy as Earth. Outer spiral, though. Constellation Kasterborous planet Gallifrey. But the key is _'up to_ as far as', meaning anywhere within a 2.537 million light year radius of this planet."

Rossi chuckled a little.

"What?" Reid demanded.

"Geographical profile much?" And at this Reid had to smile, sad though it was.

He was snapped out of it by a realisation, "Wait!" He screamed at the sky, "Article 54 of the Shadow Proclamation, it is illegal by Galactic Law to reap the ecosystem of a Level 5 planet. Humans? Kinda part of the ecosystem. I will turn you over. Maybe the real Atraxi can pick you up. That would be fun." He then fished out the psychic paper again and read it over, "They say 'Look around yourself. Your friends are who have been reaped. Dimensional planes.' Dimension- ohhh... Oh. I think they made a parallel Earth just for us. And friends, whoever 'friends' are."

"Well I'm here. I like to think we're friends." Rossi contributed before Jack could.

"That's it!" Reid bounded into the air before regaining some air of composure. "People I know. I know you. I also know-"

"-the rest of the team, of course." Rossi finished.

"Now I'm the confused one. Bit of an explanation, please?" Jack stepped up, seemingly having forgotten whatever he was going to say.

"We need to get to the Quantico FBI headquarters."


	4. First Contact

**School OVER! Now all I have to do is stress about the jobs I didn't get and what I'm gonna do now. Hehehhhh... Enjoy the chapter, guys. Sorry it took so long. I was unsure of how to do this bit. I put off main reactions, for now.**

On the (long) walk to the headquarters, Reid explained basically everything he thought he might be sure about, or might not. Every idea passed the others' ears. Rossi got a bit more of an explanation. It went something like...

Best theory: "So these not-Atraxi aliens (they're not Atraxi because the Atraxi are the galactic police and they didn't mention anything about a crime or an escaped prisoner-good times) are here for me (obviously, they contacted me and as far as I know I'm the only high-profile alien on this continent) and they need me to get back to what I usually do (which would be saving the universe and various other smaller things) because things have started to go wrong and if I don't come to help 'soon' (soon is relative because I could leave tomorrow and be there a century ago, but things get sticky and times get locked and wibbly wobbly) then some bad events might be proclaimed by the Shadow Proclamation as time-locked even if they aren't and nobody wants to get on the Shadow Proclamation's bad side (certainly not me, again, after everything I'm sure I'm on the most wanted list). Or maybe that's it. They are the real Atraxi and I'm wanted for something. But then why isolate me with people that I know? No! Back to the main theory. I think it's a test of sorts to see if I can still handle alien things. Or it's a test to see if I can actually work with a lot of humans at once. Either way, pretty sure it's a test..."

Explained to Rossi: "I'm not sure exactly how to put it but I'll try to start from the beginning. I'm an alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation Kasterberous (which I already told you). On my first regeneration (regeneration here being a noun but it can also be a verb and is used in the traditional sense- probably- but just imagine me bursting into really shiny golden flames and then coming out of it with a new face and body and slightly different personality; that's what happens when I 'die' or am about to die) I decided to steal a time machine (TARDIS; time and relative dimension in space) and journey the universe helping people and avoiding other Time Lords because stealing a TARDIS is illegal and interfering with the affairs of other peoples or planets is illegal and pretty much everything is illegal because Time Lords are so uptight. So I was kind of traveling around in my TARDIS (the sexy thing) and a few human 'companions' I picked up along the way for a while with little bumps here and there and then the Time War happened and I saved my whole planet from being blown up or destroyed by the Daleks (nasty aliens from the planet Skaro created by Davros) so I froze it in time and then was super emo for a regeneration and then I continued traveling and helping like I do then I reached the 12 regenerations limit so I got power from my people through a crack in time and space and then I continued on that whole traveling helping thing until this regeneration where I was too young to do anything really so I decided to bunk on this planet with my favourite species for a while and then I got too attached to human life so I just stayed and now here I am. There will be a quiz."

It took the rest of the walk there (because apparently the ship was acting like an impending nuke) for Rossi to fully absorb this information and come to terms with it. Jack looked smug the whole way through, though there was quite a bit he didn't know. He never ceased to be impressed by the Doctor's clearance levels.

The three were rushed upon entry by the only remaining people in the building. They were all talking over each other in a panic in a way that no trained government agents should allow themselves to trying to explain and ask at the same time.

"Not sure how much time we have, not even sure what's going on, but Garcia? Take me to your lair, please. Rossi, introduce Jack and explain with him as best you can." Reid's confidence lowered the noise enough for the agents (and captain) to follow their orders. Jack envied how the Doctor always had a way of making everyone in a room follow him.

Garcia unlocked her lair door for Reid and let him sit down. "You should join the others for the explanation." Reid said, digging around in his bag for the sonic.

"Or you could give me the quick version here. And include why you suddenly think your technophobic self will be able to work my magnificent machine."

"Short version: I am actually an alien from outer space and I another alien species has come to Earth and isolated me and everyone I love for probably bad reasons and I need your computer to try to communicate with them." He got the sonic out and ready for when he needed it after he finished some minor programming without it.

"Not that gullible. If you _really_ wanted me to go, you should've just said so. Don't break my computer." She left the room and didn't shut the door behind her.

Reid sighed guiltily and finished his program, then sonicked the software. An image of inside of the ships he had seen was shown.

"Of course... The Ranigts. Early form of Atraxi, pre-transgalactic shift." He said to himself, then addressed the Ranigts, "So, what's all this, then? Come for me, I suppose?"

"The Doctor is required." Echoed back. "Where is the Doctor?"

"The Doctor is here. I am the Doctor. Now that that's cleared up, what am I required for, exactly? I mean, I'll be happy to participate, assuming I don't get killed, converted, enslaved, you know, things like that." He leaned back in the chair. Garcia was spot on getting this chair. It was amazing. He couldn't have requested a better one.

"Doctor, your presence is required."

"Here!" He sat forward and raised his hand. "I am present. What's next?"

"Your presence is required."

"What, on your ship?" He snorted a laugh and shook his head, leaning back again. "Nope. I've decided to limit my interaction with unearthly species, thanks."

"Your terms have been met. You shall not be killed, converted, enslaved, or things like that." The Doctor laughed. It wasn't 'comfy chairs' but it was something.

"Fine. But I don't have a ship or teleports, so how do you suppose I get up there?"

"A teleport will be provided to you. Please wait." The communication cut off from the not-quite-Atraxi side.

The Doctor waited. For a while he did. A whole two minutes. Then he got bored of waiting. No wonder he could never settle down in human life; this alien stuff made him really impatient.

He walked out of the room like he owned the FBI, but confidence dissipated when he saw the looks on his co-workers faces. Morgan and Garcia were hugging. _Hugging._ He didn't think lying about his identity to his best and only friends was such a big deal that it required a hug.

Hotch looked more mad than anyone else. No, actually, Emily looked pretty mad, too. It looked like it was finally catching up to Rossi, as well. J.J. just looked disappointed. Jack was unattached to the group and leaning against a wall. He no doubt saw that this was a time that humour would be unappreciated in for the rest of them.

Reid stopped in his tracks and averted his eyes, swallowing down his pride.

"It appears we have a case." Hotch said in a tight voice, then led the way to the conference room.


	5. Confession Time

**For drama's sake, _[DW SPOILERS, I GUESS:]_ let's pretend that The 50th Anniversary Episode, _Heaven_ _Sent_ and _Hell bent_ didn't happen and Gallifrey is still lost and the Doctor still thinks they're all dead. I know it's short. Sorry. I wanted to have the ship be a separate thing, and it's after 2am. Enjoy!**

Reid had _never_ been as uncomfortable in this room before now. He didn't know what they wanted them to say. Talking aliens down from genocide was easy compared to this.

"Why would you lie like that?" Garcia sniveled. Reid felt horrible, but he couldn't push away the nagging feeling that everyone was overreacting. All of them had lied at some point as well. Everyone had a past that was reserved just for them in their memories. So did he. His just happened to coincide with his species and planet of origin.

"I've been captured by the American government before to be studied. Working for that government was a risk, I did it anyway, I couldn't really tell anyone. If I did they'd think I was crazy anyway, but the highest-ups would know it was me. I was never supposed to want to stay here. I'm sorry you all got dragged into my mess." He was not in control of this conversation or the words coming out of his mouth, and that was worrying in the least.

"I get your initial reasoning, but come on. You could've told us. Mentioned anything about not being human. Don't you think that's kind of a big detail to hide from friends?" Morgan backed Garcia up.

Emily butted in, "Friends? You seriously think that's how he sees us? An alien from a highly developed planet came to Earth to mess with some stupid humans. That's all that happened."

Reid shook his head quickly, hearts ready to explode, "Not at all."

"Sorry," Jack stepped in wearing his not-sorry face, "I think you're misunderstanding. No disrespect intended to the lady, but the Doctor probably loves humans more than any other sentient thing that's ever existed. He _wishes_ he was human. Can you blame him for acting when he got the opportunity to be for a while? He doesn't mean any harm. He would do anything for this planet and its inhabitants, and he would do anything twice for his friends. You don't know me and you have no reason to trust me, but... Let him off the hook."

The room was quiet with consideration.

"If I have forgiven you," J.J. looked at her alien friend, "it doesn't mean I'm not still upset about it."

Reid nodded quickly, accepting whatever he could get. He was relieved Jack had stepped in. The Captain had a million times his charisma.

Morgan shook his head at Reid, "I... God, I hate that I can't hate you. I get it. I just wish you'd have told us."

"I'm sorry. I was afraid." He gave his weak excuse.

Emily sighed and dismissed her previous emotions, "Is there anything else while you're being forgiven, alien boy?"

"Yeah," Rossi chimed in, "You're not going to reveal a second head or anything, are you?" Now that he was conscious of the situation and not running on 'what's going on' power, he looked more than skeptical.

"I, uh, have two hearts? I can breathe nitrogen pretty well. When I die I don't die, I just change my physical form: regenerate. I'm the last of my kind. Well, last of two, but she's crazy and probably dead now anyway. I married the woman who killed me, and Elizabeth I along with some other less notable ones... A me in a parallel universe from this universe created in a meta-crisis probably married a very nice blonde. That may or may not count. Oh, I can survive a reasonable amount of time exposed to the vacuum of space, which is really useful when catching 21st century human criminals. If I think of anything else, I'll mention it."

"Damn, that's messed up." Morgan muttered.

Reid felt a strange tingling. It was something similar to a teleportation feeling, but slower... oh.

"And I communicated with the aliens above us and they said they would teleport me up which I suspect will be happening very soon. Jack, take your time finding the TARDIS in Vegas and wait for me five minutes ago."

"I'm sorry?" Hotch spoke up finally. He was probably doing his own internal coping and processing. 'Cause Hotch.

"Did you miss the time machine part?" Rossi blinked up at him.

The feeling was overwhelming. Reid stood up, said "Beam me up, Scotty." and was gone.


	6. Honey, I'm Home

**Okay I know this one is short and they're just getting shorter and shorter but the next chapter will have some serious meat _I promise._ I would be updating more but Steam summer sales, new seasons of CM and DW, and my reading list are getting the best of me.**

The Doctor was smiling when he materialised.

"Well, you sure took your time. So, what is it that you want, exactly? Why is my presence required?" He was already pacing the ship, looking around and gathering evidence... No. Gathering up any information about this ship that might help him. It looked fairly standard. No sign of something being held in stasis waiting to kill him. The only lights were coming from glowing buttons on machines and one small light in the centre of the floor. It didn't look like a trap. He checked at his feet for pressure plates or wires, sensors of the like. Nothing. Not even a response.

"Hello? I'm here!" The nerve. You teleport someone into your spacecraft, at least have the common decency to acknowledge their presence.

He heard the sound of metal against metal scraping in a way that it could've been a door, hatch, or cage. He instinctively reached for his gun, immediately shaking himself out of it and removing his hand. After a brief search, it appeared that the gun was the only thing on him (other than clothes). The teleportation must've taken so long because they were scanning for devices that he was known to work with and excluding them from the teleport. Of course a gun wouldn't register as a threat with that criteria.

Feeling uncomfortable at the prospect of being unarmed, he pulled his gun and advanced toward the sound, hating every second the weapon was in his hands. Hating how normal it felt to have a gun drawn while moving towards a possible danger in the dark. How many times had he done this without questioning his devotion to his promise? Too many.

Eyes adjusting to the dim light, he found himself very near a cage of some sorts, and there was something inside. His hands twitched with the need to aim, but he kept the gun pointed to the ground. The thing inside moved. It was still far too dark to make out...

"Hello, Sweetie. Are you going to shoot me?"

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

The office had never been so empty, it seemed. There was something different to this. It was one thing when Hotch stayed late to do paperwork, but it was completely different knowing that you were probably the only people in the country.

"So, Jack," He hated that this man had the same name as his son. Something about him seemed off, "How did you happen to befriend Reid?"

"It's the Doctor."

"Not to us."

Jack ceded, "It was World War II. I was trying to con some time travelers into buying an alien ambulance that had crashed on earth that I knew would be blown up before I could give it to them and they could realise they had been conned. I get the money, we part ways, never have to see them again. It only didn't work out because I was unlucky enough to find the Doctor and his friend. They're too good. I mean, it also didn't work out because the ambulance I thought was empty was actually full of nanogenes that were making everyone into gas mask zombies who wanted their mothers... But after that, we kept running into each other, then he accidentally made me immortal so really I have nothing left to do but follow him around and keep him in trouble."

Rossi was shaking his head, "It's too weird not to be true."

"So Reid knows the secret to immortality?" J.J. inquired, thinking that he should probably share.

"Not exactly. Not that it would matter to him; Time Lords are basically immortal anyway. I was killed and then, well, things went weird with the time vortex and I was brought back to life, never to permanently die again. Like this." He swiped a gun from an unsuspecting Prentiss and shot himself in the forehead, falling backwards, dead. The team stared in astonishment, unsure and unable to do anything. They could only hope he wasn't some kind of pathological liar and had _actually_ killed himself. It wouldn't be the first time.

Garcia turned away as quickly as someone could and let Morgan help her breathe in the corner.

Emily quickly retrieved her gun but stayed crouched down to examine the body. There was a suspicious lack of blood, and was the wound closing up?

"Guys, I think he'll be okay." She stood slowly and continued to watch. The rest of the team (minus Garcia, who was still getting over watching a suicide) crowded the body and watched as life was breathed back into a dead man.

Jack shook up and shook his head like he was shaking off a weak punch, "I hadn't died in a while. Needed a little refresher. Plus, none of you looked like you believed me."

Emily smiled coldly, "I think I actually hate you, you bastard."

"Your flirting could use some work." Jack winked in her direction and Emily feigned nausea.

Morgan put an arm around a very emotionally confused Garcia but addressed Jack, "I'd believe anything today. Proof was unnecessary."

"Okay, let's change the subject, please?" Garcia breathed. "What's Reid like when he's _the Doctor_?"

Jack smirked to himself, "Absolutely **fantastic**."


	7. Decision Time

**I hope I made up for my teeny weeny chapters with this one. Longest I've ever written on this site, I believe. I just finished season 12 of Criminal Minds and I'm kinda freaking out about Reid so I don't know how coherent this is but I tried my best. Also, it was written on my phone while I was trying to avoid socialisation. If there are any huge mistakes please tell me and I will get right on it. Otherwise, have fun with this chapter! Thank you so much to Malohkeh who has been reviewing and making my day every chapter. You're awesome and you're the reason I'm updating again so soon.**

"Hello, Sweetie. Are you going to shoot me?"

"No! I mean. I..." the Doctor put the gun away slowly. "I didn't expect you here."

River stood, "Well obviously. Is this what you do when you think you're alone? March around with a gun?" Her playful taunting was getting to him more than it should.

He reddened in shame, "No... special circumstance."

"How so?" The Doctor could see better now. River was holding onto the bars of her cage, pressed against them like she wanted to be as slide to him as she could. He took a step closer.

"I'll explain later. First, why were you taken? Do you know why they want me?" He held her hands over the bars.

"I came willingly. They didn't trust me after they looked into my history. I can break myself out of almost anywhere, but they used an old fashioned lock and chain to close me in, and they took my gun. I came because they wanted to use me to coax you back out into the universe to start helping again. From what I hear, you haven't been seen for years. The Shadow Proclamation and Atraxi thought you had made a mistake and skipped a portion of time but then you were found on Earth living in linear time and we knew something was wrong. You were either in a tricky spot and needed some motivation to leave, or you had finally decided you liked humans better than traveling."

"But why isolate me on the planet with my... my, uh, companions?" It felt like betrayal to call his team that, but River wouldn't understand. He needed information right now. All that he was sure about was hat he couldn't leave the BAU.

"Let's talk more once I'm free. Give me your gun."

The Doctor shook his head, "I'm not sure it's not a trick. I'm not arming you and giving you means to freedom."

River sighed and looked into her Doctor's eyes. They were not the same, "So is this one after Attack Eyebrows? Or did I miss something between Eyebrows and Chinny?"

"Knowing about my previous regenerations proves nothing." The Doctor couldn't help being cautious. "How can I be sure you're not a trick?"

"Shall we do diaries? I don't have mine on me, naturally. All of my things were screened out. I assume you don't have yours either. Verbal will do. By your regeneration we've done Darillium?"

The Doctor stared coldly. If she had already been to the Singing Towers with him then she should be dead. This must be a trick. It had to be.

River smacked her lips and sighed, "I'll take that as a yes." She leaned against the bars of her cage. "And I _know_ you've done the library."

"Who are you?" He kept the emotion out of his voice to the best of his ability but there was still an audible tremble. How dare this thing pretend to be his wife from a time after she was gone? How dare anyone?

"Sweetie, it's me. Has human life made you this paranoid?" She tried to laugh in good humour but the way the Doctor was acting... it scared her. He had a gun and she got the feeling he wouldn't have any hesitations in using it.

"River died in that library. That was the end of our time together in that direction so there is no possible way we could be together again." He dropped his voice to a low whisper, trying to keep cracks out.

"I got out. You saved me, remember?" River matched his volume.

The Doctor shook his head and finally unlocked his eyes from hers. "You- River was dead. She's gone. Nice try." He closed his eyes, unable to look at the hurt in River's eyes, even if it wasn't really her.

Reid instinctively pulled out his gun, feeling foolish for thinking that anything good would come of being the Doctor again. He had lost the privelage to use that title a long time ago.

A quick glance around with better adjusted eyes let him know where the cockpit or main control area would be. He could figure out if the they humans on the planet had been abducted or made invisible, or if it was he and the others who had been moved to a parallel universe or simulation. _River could be a simulation live fed from the database-_ no. Not her. Not her consciousness. Not her. It couldn't be, because if it was, he didn't think he would be able to resist traveling the universe again with her.

Just as he reached the hallway that he assumed led to the main instruments of the ship, Not River called something out to him that sounded so unbearably familiar to his ears that he had to stop.

"What did you say?" He wasn't sure if she could hear him until she repeated herself several seconds later. The Doctor froze.

"What's the matter?" He had never heard her so close to tears, "Don't remember your name? Well, I do. You told me. Do you remember that? Is that enough proof for you!?"

His mistake and the implications of the fact that it had been a mistake flooded the Doctor's hearts and head, paralysing him until he could no longer be still from the ecstasy racing through him and he ran to her.

"I am so sorry. I'm so sorry. Here." He desperately tried to fit the gun through the bars but the gaps between them was too small. "No, that's okay. It's fine. I'll do it. Turn away." His voice shook in a way that one only could from true excitement, beating down the anger into nonexistance.

River turned her head away from the lock and the Doctor stepped back. He hoped to Rassilion that discharging an Earth firearm wouldn't count as a violent attack on the ship. It took three shots to break the lock. It would've been easier with a screwdriver.

"You're a good shot. You've been holding out on me." River snapped back into her flirtatious tones as soon as she was close enough to hug the Doctor in the same mood.

After a seconds long hesitation, he pushed her off and handed her his gun and holster, "Take it. I never want to fire another shot." His hands hadn't shaken this hard even when he'd shot to kill or be killed.

"Glad to see you back. I was beginning to think I'd lost you." She happily fastened the weapon to her own waist, "A little twenty-first century but it'll do."

Reid felt exposed without his gun, but the Doctor was relieved beyond words to have it gone. Reid figured this is what people with dissociative identity disorders felt like some of the time. He couldn't blame them for doing some of the things they did. _Off topic_ damnit.

"Yeah, it is twenty-first." As the last syllable left his lips, an alarm was set off, blaring so loudly compared to their quiet that the Doctor had to cover his ears.

Over the speakers in Old Atraxian boomed, "Restricted item detected on the female prisoner. Remove the weapon or the female prisoner will be incinerated." Some things never changed.

The Doctor grabbed the gun back and the alarms stopped like the barrel was the lever.

"You could just leave it." River suggested, upset that her chance at wielding a firearm had been compromised.

"I can't do that." He said without thinking. Why couldn't he?

"Why can't you?" She said. Great minds think alike.

"I'm unarmed." He only thought of the words after they left his lips. Of course he would be unarmed. That was the point! That was always the point. He had more than coped with no screwdriver before without turning to a gun. Gun was a last resort. Then why couldn't he get his hand to drop it.

"Yes, you are." River reached for the gun slowly. She had never seen him look as unstable as he did right now, hand shaking like he was trying to shake the weapon loose but it was stuck. She tried to take the gun out of his hands but his fingers wouldn't allow it. His knuckles turned sterile white to contradict the redness in the rest of his hand.

"Doctor, drop the gun."

His mind fought against his body. He wanted to drop it but he wanted it. He needed it. Every nanosecond he changed his mind.

Another alarm sounded, "The female prisoner has escaped. Return to your cell or the Doctor and his friends will be incinerated."

He shoved the gun in his front pocket, the alarm jolting him to awareness. He was reminded of quantum physics. Simple enough to understand and experience as an onlooking party, but to feel like he was in two states at once-Reid and the Doctor-only to be collapsed into one upon realisation of a situation... it was excruciating.

Reid needed to save his friends, so Reid would. The gun would stay.

"Get back into the cage. I'm not getting people killed. Tell me what they isolated us for." He practically pushed her back behind bars. As if on a pressure plate, the alarms stopped.

"Are there any sensors in here? Did they put anything on you? Why did it take them so long to realise you were out of the cage but no time at all to realise you were armed? Why am I allowed to carry a weapon but you aren't?"

River had had a while to think. She knew what to say. "No sensors, and they didn't put anything on me that I wasn't already wearing. I supposed based on my history they expected me to break out but didn't want to raise any alarms right away because I always return. They gave me some time to get back in with a delayed alarm system. As for the gun, I am very dangerous with one, as my history shows, so of course the alarm would go off right away. You're not considered a threat with any weapons because of how intent you are on avoiding violence. They don't think you're a threat with a gun. Their mistake. Now, under normal circumstances I would pretend to want you to man up and use a weapon while really loving your attempts at assembling cabinets in mid air. And I should be appalled at your choice of carrying a weapon-and don't get me wrong, I am more than a little disappointed-but now I think you might be able to use it to your advantage. Don't speak. I assume you're okay with using it if you have to and I trust you aren't trigger happy, so I need to tell you. To tell you that I have considered that you might've made a human life for yourself on Earth and that you might want to stay. I would love nothing more than to travel with you for the rest of ever in that stupid brilliant TARDIS, but I also care about you too much not to think that you might not want to. If you do want to travel with me we can get out of here. We can arrange for the TARDIS to show up here somehow either from something we've already done or or are doing or will do. She'll show up and we can go anywhere. Everywhere. But if you want to stay... they put you and your friends in a manufactured parallel pocket universe. The mainframe is simple and I know what to do to put you back into the right universe where no time will have passed. The programming in this ship requires it to return to its docking base machanic on its planet of origin when it's damaged and will move at only sub-light speeds. That would give you quite some time to stay here and live. I could break out at any time. It wouldn't be hard. If you let them. We'll take you to your TARDIS right now but I just wanted to let you know that I love you and I will help you with either decision."

The Doctor was overwhelmed. His mind was racing with images of possible futures. So many beautiful planets and galaxies and histories to explore, so many unique races and cultures to save. It is amazing. Was. But there were problems on earth that he never would've seen if he hadn't joined the bureau and so many things he could make a difference in just on his favourite planet, helping his favourite species in his favourite time. "Thank you. I need to think about it." The gun felt heavy at his side. The alienness of his situation glared him in the face.

"Let's start with returning everything to its rightful universe. That happens no matter what." The Doctor swallowed down his questions. Humans before him.

River nodded sympathetically and led the way to the control panel.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Jack's charisma was incredible. Even after flirting with everyone in this universe and killing himself in front of them, terrorising them, he had still managed to befriend everyone and get his bro Dave to bring out his stash of drinks kept in the office for "unexpected occasions". Convinced that Reid would be okay on his own after enough shared stories from both sides, it hadn't seemed inappropriate to chill out and wait for him to work his magic.

Jack laughed along with everyone else and took a sip of his drink. Rossi had some good stuff, "And then she _bit it off_ with the teeth in her tongue and spat it back out at me, and I was like 'Well that wasn't very sanitary' because, you know? It's a dead Nazi's toe, you can't get less sanitary than that. And you know what she asks me? She asks _what a sanitary is_. This creature from a level eight planet, get this, _with a personal translation matrix."_

Everyone laughed and some gasped. Emily made a sound like "No!" In disbelief.

Happy moods were squashed with an earsplitting buzz like the worse mic status to ever happen.

"It's me." Reid couldn't decide which name, so he used neither. They would be able to tell, "Not that I doubt your civility, but you have about a minute to get yourselves into a position you wouldn't mind other agents seeing you in. Stay out of usually crowded areas. Maybe sit at the round table or stand up against a wall. I don't want you materialising inside other people. This is only a one-way communication so don't try yelling at the sky for me. We're sorting it out. See you soon, I guess." The buzzing stopped.

"Better put this away..." Rossi collected the remains of his stash and tucked them back in their spot. "And nobody ever saw a thing. It's not illegal, just inappropriate. Never for work hours, alright?"

Nods of agreement amongst the agents left Jack the sole civilian confidant.

"I'm taking the wall. Materialising into someone does not sound desireable." Garcia tucked herself into a corner.

"It's not." Jack stood next to her and winked. She didn't notice.

The rest sat at the table waiting for some big jolt or something. They stayed in their positions for a few minutes.

"Why haven't we 'materialised' yet?" Morgan looked around. Nothing seemed different.

Hotch stood and opened the blinds to see if there was some alien battle happening in the bullpen, but instead he saw all of their normal coworkers going about their business.

"Oh. We have." He opened all of the blinds to let everyone see.

"Now I feel stupid." Prentiss stood and opened the door to look for herself. "Yep."

The organisation and stillness of the brook broke up.

"Wait," J.J. said, "If everything is back to normal, where's Reid?"


	8. TARDIS

**I know the TARDIS hates Jack but just let her allow him to pilot her enough to get to her Doctor. This is a pretty short chapter but I thought I'd just get one out there. It's not the shortest ever. I'll try to make up for it later. Sorry for not updating. School as been hell.**

* * *

"Oh, my bad." Jack said, drawing everyone's attention. "I'm meant to bring him his TARDIS. I'd be with him in the TARDIS so he wouldn't land where I already am. He has a thing about paradoxes; he's really protective. Anyway, I should be going to Vegas now. I'll probably get sidetracked while I'm there. I should start walking, unless someone can provide me with a faster means of travel."

"I'll drive you." Morgan offered surprisingly. He knew Hotch wouldn't let a stranger, charming though he was and strange the circumstances were, use a government issued private jet. He felt like he owed it to his best friend, alien or human, for his earlier anger. Sure he had lied about so many things about himself, but everyone had secrets and everyone had their reasons. Just because Morgan learned about his secret past, it didn't change everything they had actually done together.

"Nevada is a long way from here. Are you sure?" Hotch asked. "There's always commercial airlines."

"I don't have a cent, so unless you want to pay for me." Jack shrugged. He didn't really care how he got there, as long as he did.

"Yes, I'm sure. Come on, Captain. I hope this time machine can get me back in time for anything important." Jack followed Morgan out the door and down the elevator.

There was a strange silence left in the room. Nothing could really be the same now that they knew what they did. Nevertheless, they knew what had to be done. It wasn't anything otherworldly or magical. They just had paperwork, which seemed like such a horrible and insignificant thing to be doing right now, but it was necessary. They had lives and duties. They all knew that. With Morgan and Jack out of the equation, those remaining slowly filed back to their desks to do whatever it is that needed to be done. It was wordlessly agreed that everyone grab some work from both Morgan's and Reid's desks to help out with what they could.

They only started to get nervous - somewhat collectively - when three hours had passed and there was no sign of any time travelers.

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The Doctor tried to help, but whenever he got close enough to touch the controls, River shooed him away with the excuse that this was "women's work". He couldn't disagree. He wouldn't have much of an idea what he was doing if left alone to figure it out. It wasn't like he could just sonic it, so he had to settle for watching. He could only hope he looked as cool as she did when _he_ was messing around with controls.

"You don't have to stare," She glanced back at him flirtatiously.

"What else would I..." There it was. That beautiful, familiar sound.

"Best go take care of that." River dismissed him. "Tell me if there's two of you. It's nearly my birthday and never too early to celebrate."

The Doctor blushed slightly but took off to follow the noise. It was strange to be on this side of the event. This must be what his companions felt like when they heard him arriving in his TARDIS, chasing desperately after the sound, ready for an adventure.

He turned a corner and was struck still with awe. His TARDIS, that perfect machine, was standing in her own light in the middle of a small room where she dominated the dull greys around her with stunning blue. He was snapped out of admiration when the door opened, revealing none other than Jack.

The Doctor closed the distance between himself and his TARDIS, "I would complain about the five minutes, but I doubt I could get any closer."

Jack raised his eyebrows, "Modest? Never seen that on you before. Not sure I like it."

"I can't imagine him not being modest." Morgan emerged from behind Jack, "Nice... box."

"TARDIS." The Doctor corrected, "Thanks." He turned to Jack. "Why did you bring him?"

"He was my ride to that boiling dust pit called Las Vegas." Jack explained.

"What's the matter with me tagging along?"

"I just like to be there when they see the TARDIS for the first time." The Doctor pouted. "Did he say the thing?"

"He said the thing." Jack confirmed.

"Good, good." The Doctor nodded and entered his TARDIS. She looked exactly as he'd left her. She had a knack for not ageing.

Immediately upon entry, nothing else mattered. The Doctor ran for her control's and gave them a hug. "Oh, it's been so long! I am so sorry, I will never leave you like that again. I missed you."

Morgan shared a strange glance with Jack before focusing back on their friend's reunion with his machine.

"I have a surprise for you. I know you love it when River flies you. I hope that'll make up for lost time. And Jack. I know you hate Jack. Don't sorry, you're not alone."

"Speaking of not alone." Jack reminded the Doctor of his presence. He flipped his head to see the two staring at him.

"Oh, right, yes, sorry. I- OH! I'll be right back." He darted out of the TARDIS he had been caressing before.

"Is he always like this when he's 'the Doctor?'" Morgan watched him disappear into the darkness of the ship.

"Pretty much." Jack nodded.


End file.
